Gareth Williams: The Outsider

I’ve been really shit with this blog over the past 6 months, if not longer. To ease myself back in, I thought I’d just throw up a brief review of the the new SUPERMAN: EARTH ONEgraphic novel from DC Comics, written by J. Michael Straczynski and pencilled by Shane Davis.

[**This review contains SPOILERS so if you’re planning to read it (and you should) you may want to wait until afterwards to read on.**]

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since it was first announced. One of my favourite characters by one of my favourite writers? Seemed ideal. Well finally the book is out and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a good, effective modern retelling of a ‘first Superman story.’ There is nothing truly exceptional here, true, but it is a worthy first chapter of what promises to be an exciting and entertaining series. Davis’s artwork is also of a high standard, though I found the colouring to be a little ‘washed-out’ for my tastes.

It’s not perfect, of course. My biggest problem is that I don’t think J. Michael Straczynski went quite far enough in distancing this story from previous Superman origin stories. That may not be a issue for some, and I certainly understand it may be have been by design - “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and all that. But it does mean that, as good as this book is, it’s also quite predictable.

There are two other issues I had with it. One is an outright criticism about the villain’s fate at the end of the story. In the BATMAN BEGINS movie, I could just about accept Batman leaving Ra’s al Ghul to die, but not actually killing him. It’s not entirely in-keeping with the character, but in the context of the film I didn’t mind it too much. In SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, a similar thing happens, only it doesn’t sit nearly as well when it’s Superman leaving someone to die. Perhaps if it was shown that Superman was troubled by it I could reconcile it better, but it’s never mentioned again.

The second issue I had isn’t really a criticism - yet. It might become one, depending on how it’s developed in subsequent volumes, but for now I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude. The idea that Krypton was “killed” rather than the victim of an accident is a good one, and it sets up an intriguing mystery going forward. But the idea that Superman is now out to avenge the death of his homeworld… Well, as I said, we’ll just have to see how things develop, but my gut reaction is that it doesn’t sit quite right.

If it sounds like I’m being mostly critical, it’s only because the few minor quibbles I had stand out more simply because overall I liked the book so much. It certainly makes me eager not only for the next volume, but for the BATMAN: EARTH ONE book coming out (hopefully) next year sometime by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.

For a more in-depth review check out the Collected Editions blog: http://collectededitions.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-superman-earth-one-graphic-novel.html I don’t agree with the review completely; I think Jimmy’s significance to the story is overstated by the reviewer, and I think the idea of linking the Earth One to main DC Comics continuity would be a betrayal of the Earth One series’ stated intent,  but it’s still a worthwhile read from a blog that’s become one of my go-to sources for DC Comics reviews.

So if you’ve read the book, or are planning to, don’t forget to drop by my Twitter feed to let me know what you think. Cool?